Michael Blunden scored two power-play goals and Justin Pogge stopped 35 shots for his third shutout of the World Junior Hockey Championship, leading Canada over Russia 5-0 in the final on Thursday.
Blake Comeau, Steve Downie and Kyle Chipchura also scored as Canada won consecutive championships for the first time since winning five straight from 1993-1997.
"We came out and played our game," Pogge said. "We're in Canada, the gold stays here in Canada."
PHOTO: AFP
Earlier in the day, Lauri Tukonen scored the tiebreaking goal at 13:20 of the third period, and Finland beat the US 4-2 for the bronze medal.
Canada coach Brent Sutter improved to 12-0 in the world junior championship, and is the winningest Canadian coach in the history of the tournament.
His philosophy of an aggressive defence, hard work and attention to detail has proved successful, as Canada gave up only six goals in six games -- just one at even-strength.
The Canadians worked harder and were more physical around the Russian net than their opponents were in defending it. Canada also had two power-play goals on seven chances, and held Russia to 0-for-6.
"We just wanted to keep things simple and keep them off the scoreboard as best we could and we did it pretty well," said defenseman Ryan Parent said.
Russia outshot Canada 15-8 in the first period, but trailed 2-0. Comeau opened the scoring 17:13 into the game, and Downie made it 2-0 less than 2 minutes later.
Replays in the opening minutes of the second period showed the puck getting across the goal line behind Pogge at one point. The Russians had a long discussion with American referee Brian Thul, but it was not counted.
Blunden scored his goals 2:42 apart in the second half of the second period, and Chipchura cap-ped the scoring at 17:15 of the third.
In the bronze-medal playoff, Jesse Joensuu scored twice and Tuukka Rask stopped 37 shots to lead Finland.
"It means a lot," Tukonen said. "Finland doesn't have that many medals from hockey. We just worked harder. We wanted more to win the game and now we got our offensive game lots better."
American forward Bobby Ryan opened the scoring by knocking in his own rebound at 12:11 of the first period.
After Jari Sailio tied the score at 13:32 of the second, Finland led 2-1 about 90 seconds later when Joensuu's first goal of the championship survived a video review. American goalie Cory Schneider served up a generous rebound that hit the Finn as he went to the net.
Jack Johnson, booed every time he touched the puck for decking Canada's Steve Downie on New Year's Eve, tied the score with power-play goal 11:03 into the third period.
Patrik Elias had two goals and two assists in his second game back since recovering from hepatitis to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
The Devils struggled to score this season without Elias, who contracted the illness while playing in Europe during the NHL lockout last year.
Against Montreal, Elias combined with linemates Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta for three goals and eight points as New Jersey won its second straight.
Viktor Kozlov and Brian Rafalski also scored for the Devils, and Martin Brodeur made 16 saves.
Saku Koivu, Chris Higgins, Michael Ryder and Andrei Kostitsyn scored for the Canadiens, who lost their fourth straight.
Flyers 4, Rangers 3, OT
At New York, Simon Gagne scored seven seconds into overtime after Peter Forsberg won the faceoff, and Philadelphia beat New York to stretch its Atlantic Division lead.
Gagne took the puck from Forsberg and skated to the right of goalie Kevin Weekes and beat him to the short-side post for his NHL-leading 28th goal.
Philadelphia defensemen Freddy Meyer and Kim Johnsson scored two of the Flyers' three power-play goals, and Antero Niittymaki made 31 saves. It was the 16th one-goal decision in 18 games for Philadelphia.
Martin Straka scored twice for the Rangers, who dropped their third straight in overtime.
The Flyers are 6-0-1 on their team-record 11-game road trip. Philadelphia has earned at least one point in 16 of 18 games (13-2-3) and leads the second-place Rangers by seven points midway through the season.
Bruins 4, Senators 2
At Boston, Brad Boyes scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to lift Boston over Ottawa.
The Bruins have alternated wins and losses in their last nine games and beat Ottawa for the second time. They are the only division foe to beat Ottawa this season.
The Senators trailed 2-1 in the third period when Mike Fisher scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway, beating backup goalie Andrew Raycroft.
Boyes responded with the Bruins' second power-play goal of the game, a slap shot that beat goalie Dominik Hasek with 6:50 left in the third.
Starting goalie Hannu Toivonen was replaced by Raycroft after he left with an ankle injury at the end of the second period. Toivonen made 22 saves.
Sabres 3, Lightning 1
At Buffalo, New York, Jochen Hecht had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Miller made 21 saves to lead Buffalo past Tampa Bay.
Chris Drury and Henrik Tallinder also scored for the Sabres, who have won two of the first three games on a season-long six-game homestand.
Miller, who won for the fifth time in six starts since returning from a broken thumb, made several point-blank saves in the second period and stopped Vaclav Prospal's breakaway attempt with 8 minutes to go in regulation to help preserve the win. He has allowed only nine goals in those six games.
Martin St. Louis scored for the Lightning, who had won two straight. Tampa Bay has scored just five goals in its last four games.
Red Wings 3, Blues 0
At Detroit, Manny Legace, playing for the first time in more than a month, made 15 saves for his third shutout of the season to lead Detroit over St. Louis.
Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper and Henrik Zetterberg scored for the Western Conference-leading Red Wings, who have won six of seven.
St. Louis' Curtis Sanford made 28 saves.
Legace had been out since injuring his right knee on Nov. 25. He set a league record with 10 wins in October.
Avalanche 4, Wild 2
At St. Paul, Minnesota, Alex Tanguay scored twice and David Aebischer made 33 saves in Colorado's victory over Minnesota.
Brett McLean added a goal and an assist and Marek Svatos broke the Avalanche record for goals by a rookie with his 21st of the season in Colorado's third straight win.
Daniel Tjarnqvist had a goal and an assist for Minnesota.
Canucks 3, Blackhawks 2
At Chicago, Nolan Baumgartner and Markus Naslund scored in the second period, and Jarkko Ruutu converted a penalty shot late in the third as Vancouver handed Chicago its ninth straight loss.
Alex Auld made 26 saves for the Canucks, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Tuomo Ruutu and Martin Lapointe scored for the Blackhawks, who last lost nine in a row from Feb. 17 to March 7, 2003.
Kings 4, Coyotes 0
At Los Angeles, Craig Conroy and Joe Corvo scored 50 seconds apart in the first period, Luc Robitaille ended a 14-game scoreless drought with two goals and Mathieu Garon earned his first shutout with Los Angeles in a victory over Phoenix.
The Pacific Division-leading Kings won for the ninth time in 11 games following consecutive wins against second-place Dallas. Garon made 29 saves while winning for the 10th time in his last 11 starts. His other four NHL shutouts came with Montreal.
Phoenix goalie Brian Boucher lasted only one period after giving up three goals on 12 shots. He was replaced by Curtis Joseph.
Robitaille has 660 career goals and 549 in a Kings uniform, one shy of Marcel Dionne's franchise record.
Sharks 6, Blue Jackets 3
At San Jose, California, Jonathan Cheechoo scored three goals for the second time in three weeks, and linemate Joe Thornton had a goal and three assists in San Jose's victory over Columbus.
Nils Ekman had four assists for the second straight game in another night of statistical superlatives for the remarkable line centered by Thornton, who tied Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk as the NHL's second-leading scorer with 58 points.
Christian Ehrhoff and rookie Grant Stevenson also scored for the Sharks, who returned from a five-day break with their second straight victory following a four-game winless streak.
Rick Nash scored two power-play goals for Columbus, which returned from its own four-day break in a five-game road trip. Mike Rupp also scored for the Blue Jackets, still tied with St. Louis with a league-low 25 points.
Vesa Toskala made 28 saves for the Sharks in his second straight victory in place of slumping starter Evgeni Nabokov.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB